Space Tourism … and Much More
Artist’s conception of SpaceX’s Dragon in a propulsive landing. (Credit: SpaceX)
NASA Commercial Spaceflight — 60 Day Report
The space shuttle was the world’s first reusable spacecraft, but it will not be the last. All three of NASA’s CCiCap partners are designing their commercial crew transportation vehicles to be reused after ferrying NASA astronauts and other customers to and from low Earth orbit.
Continue reading ‘NASA Looks to Reusable Spacecraft to Bring Down Costs’
CST-100 crew evaluation. (Credit: Boeing)
NASA Commercial Spaceflight — 60 Day Report
NASA awarded the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Space Act Agreements (SAAs) just over two months ago, and all three partners are already making substantial progress toward completing their designs and performing hardware testing. These partners have transitioned from CCDev2 to CCiCap without skipping a beat.
Continue reading ‘Commercial Crew Companies Move Ahead on Work’
Video Caption: NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and its newest Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) partners are embracing the American spirit as they advance their integrated rocket and spacecraft designs for the future of human spaceflight.
This is an artist’s conception of Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft separating from the first stage of its launch vehicle, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, following liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (Credit: Boeing)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — The Boeing Company completed its first performance milestone Aug. 23 for NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to lead to the availability of human spaceflight transportation services for government and commercial customers.
In its Integrated Systems Review (ISR), Boeing presented the latest designs of its CST-100 spacecraft, United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket launch system, and ground and mission operations. These designs will serve as the baseline for further development work to be accomplished during CCiCap. The company also discussed its plans for safety and mission assurance, which ultimately will contribute to achieving certification of the system for human spaceflight.
Continue reading ‘Boeing Completes First CCiCAP Milestone Worth $50 Million’
HOUSTON, Sept. 14, 2012 (Boeing PR) – Boeing [NYSE: BA] and NASA recently established the firm baseline configuration for the company’s Commercial Crew Transportation System, achieving the first performance milestone in NASA’s Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative.
Continue reading ‘Boeing, NASA Establish CST-100 Baseline Configuration’
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Earlier this week, NASA published a Selection Statement explaining how and why it awarded $1.1 billion in commercial crew contracts to Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation and SpaceX last month. The 13-page document, written by William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, lays out how the NASA rated the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) proposals submitted by these three companies and ATK, which did not receive funding.
A summary of the document with the ratings and rationale is below.
Continue reading ‘A Closer Look at the CCiCAP Selection Decisions’
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities by the company’s President Robert Bigelow on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, in Las Vegas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA’s decision last month to award commercial crew contracts worth a combined $900 million to Boeing and SpaceX has provided a boost for Bigelow Aerospace’s efforts to launch private space stations into orbit.
Bigelow, which has partnered with both companies to provide transportation services to its orbital facilities, plans to hire re-hire workers who had been earlier laid off due to delays in NASA’s commercial crew program.
Continue reading ‘Bigelow to Rehire Workers in Wake of NASA’s Commercial Crew Awards’
The Boeing Company performs a jettison test of its forward heat shield, which will protect the parachutes of the company’s CST-100 spacecraft during trips to and from low Earth orbit. (Credit: Boeing)
Kennedy Space Center, Fl. (NASA PR) – The Boeing Company recently completed a jettison test of its forward heat shield, which will protect the parachutes of the company’s CST-100 spacecraft during future missions to and from low Earth orbit. The forward heat shield jettison will start the parachute deployment sequence and provide a safe landing for the capsule and its crew members. The test was part of Boeing’s work supporting its funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2).
Continue reading ‘Boeing Tests CST-100 Parachute Protector’
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) – Sixteen months ago, NASA signed the second round of Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) Space Act Agreements with industry partners to advance multiple commercial crew space transportation system concepts and elements. The vast majority of the 62 performance milestones now have been completed, with only four more remaining. All CCDev2 milestones for the SAAs with SpaceX, ULA, ATK and Excalibur Almaz, Inc. have been successfully concluded.
Continue reading ‘Boeing, Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Work to Complete Final CCDev Milestones’
Advances made by these companies under newly signed Space Act Agreements (SAAs) through the agency’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative are intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.
Continue reading ‘Florida Becomes Nexus of Commercial Space Launches’
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